death? I suppose you will.”
“Is it a foregone conclusion?” Danton asked.
“The Cordeliers Club calls for insurrection, for a day. So does Hebert in his newspaper. No government in five years has stood up to insurrection.”
“But then,” Camille said, “Robespierre was never the government.”
“Exactly. Either he’ll snuff it out before it begins, or smash it by force of arms.”
“Man of action,” Danton said. He laughed.
“You were, once,” Lindet said.
Danton swept an arm out. “I am the Opposition.”
“Robespierre threatened Collot. If Collot had shown the slightest leaning towards Hebert’s tactics, he would be in prison now.”
“What has that to do with me?”
“Saint-Just has been at Robespierre, every day for a week. You have to understand that Robespierre has respect for him—Saint-Just never puts a foot wrong. We think that in the long run they may have some divergence of opinion, but we’re not concerned with theory now. Saint-Just’s attitude is, if Hebert goes, Danton must go. He talks of—balancing out the factions.”
“They wouldn’t dare. I’m not a faction, Lindet, I’m at the Revolution’s core.”
“Look, Danton, Saint-Just believes you are a traitor. He is actively seeking proofs of your involvement with the enemy. How many times must I tell you? However ludicrous it seems, this is what he believes. This is what he is saying to the Committee. Collot and Billaud-Varennes back him up.”
“But Robespierre,” Camille said quickly. “He’s the important one.”
“I suppose you must have quarreled, Danton, last time you met. I’m afraid he has the air of a man who is trying to make his mind up. I don’t know what it would take—some small thing. He doesn’t speak against you, but he doesn’t defend you as he used to. He was very quiet, in today’s session. The others think it is because he’s not over his illness yet, but it’s more than that. He made a note of everything that was said. He watched all the time. If Hebert falls, you must go.”
“Go?”
“You must get out.”
“Is that the best advice you have for me, friend Lindet?”
“I want you to survive. Robespierre’s a prophet, he’s a dreamer—and I ask you, what record have prophets, as heads of government? When he’s gone, who will maintain the republic, if you do not?”
“Dreamer? Prophet? You’re very persuasive,” Danton said. “But if I thought that whey-faced eunuch had any designs on me I’d break his neck.”
Lindet dropped back in his chair. “Well, I don’t know. Camille, can you make him understand.”
“Oh … my position is somewhat … ambivalent.”
“That’s a damn good word for you,” Danton observed.
“Saint-Just spoke against you in the Committee today, Camille. So did Collot, so did Barere. Robespierre let them get through with it, then he said that you were led astray by stronger personalities. Barere said that they were sick of hearing that, and here was some evidence from the Police Committee, from Vadier. Robespierre took the papers and put them under his own on the table, and sat with his elbows on them. Then he changed the subject.”
“Does he often do things like that?”
“Surprisingly often.”
“I shall appeal to the people,” Danton said. “They must have some idea what sort of government they want.”
“Hebert is appealing to the people,” Lindet said. “The Committee calls it projected insurrection.”
“He has not my status in the Revolution. Nothing like it.”
“I don’t think the people care anymore,” Lindet said. “I don’t think they care who sinks or swims, you, Hebert, Robespierre. They’re exhausted. They come to the trials as a diversion. It is better than the theater. The blood is real.”
“One might think you despaired,” Camille said.
“Oh, I don’t have any truck with despair. I just keep an eye on the food supplies, as the Committee has told me to do.”
“You have your loyalties to the Committee.”
“Yes. So I won’t come again.”
“Lindet, if I come out on top of this, I’ll remember your good offices.”
Robert Lindet nodded—made, in fact, a sort of humorous, half-embarrassed bow. He was of another generation; the Revolution had not made him. Dogged and clear-headed, he made it his business to survive from day to day; Monday to Tuesday was all he asked.
Some violent rhetoric in the Sections: a minor demonstration at City Hall. 23 Ventose, Saint-Just read a report to the Convention, alleging a foreign-inspired plot among certain well-known factionalists to destroy representative government and starve Paris. 24 Ventose, in the early hours, Hebert and his associates were taken away from their houses by the police.
ROBESPIERRE: I am at a loss to see what purpose our friends thought this meeting would serve.
